Return of the Humans
by Dragonfeith
Summary: The Litch has returned. Ooo is becoming a warzone, with Finn and the gang in the center. Mysteries are being solved, but at what price? Lots of OC's, and NOT a Finn/ Marceline fic. It's a Finn/Flame Princess; Marceline/ PB; Ice King/ Surpise! Basically the classics.
1. Prelouge to the Whole Mess

Before this story can really begin, or start, or even end, one must understand how it started. Because if I just plopped you down in the middle of a place that spoke a different language, you would have a hard time placing what was going on. Better to learn the language, isn't it? So I think I'll teach you the language before I introduce you to the country. (This language business is all strictly metaphorical, of course. Just an explanation on why I even have a prologue.)

Now, lets start simple, shall we? Something that we all know. Particle Physics and the modern humans inability to use 100% of their brain. See, Nuclear War is what happens when these two factors are combined. Again though, we must understand the beginning before the ending and middle make sense. So when people get jealous of another persons stuff (I want that toy!) and they can't get it through diplomatic means (no, It's mine!), they start getting angry (Give it to me!), and then they decide to fight for it (Ow! He hit Me!). Brilliant line of thinking, isn't it? I want that, so I'll fight you for it. This is a major oversimplification, of course, but it gets the point across.

Now, let's apply this to a group of people. Let's say group A has a really nice view but no water, and Group B has a really nice stream with clean water but no view. The logical choice would be to become a new group, and to work together, right? But sense when are humans logical? So instead, they fight for it. Apply this to resources, women, countries, ideals, and you got yourself a Grade-A problem.

So over history people have fought and died for these things that, in 100 or so years, won't matter. Advances in technology make it easier to kill each other. Finally, in the mid 20th century, the ultimate weapon of war is developed and used. The Atomic Bomb. Using the power of a broken atom, it destroys two cities and millions of lives. Then, each year more and more bombs are made, each one more powerful than the last until enough are around to destroy the world was we know it. Us idjits decide that maybe making these things wasn't the best idea ever, and maybe we're not responsible enough... and on and on. But a little too late. The things are already there, and the world now has a problem.

So now we jump about 50 or so year foreward. It's the 21rst centry, 2027, and human kind has defeated cancer, deafeted AID's, and defeated obesity. Now what? Well, how about our own stupidity? Yeah, that sounds great! We can make a better warrior if we're less stupid!

So a country, called the United States of America, builds a secret laboratory and creates this better soldier. Called Subject Zero, it is the ultimate biological weapon. One problem. It's a little girl. Okay, well, um... how did that happen?

Scinlad was a PhD in almost every biological subject known to man. But he couldn't handle one (granted, VERY free-spirited *cough* rebellious *cough*) 10-year-old girl? He was smart, dammit!

"Marceline, get down from there at once!" The little girl looked down at him from her perch on the rotating ceiling fan with distaste. "Make me." She said, sticking our her tongue and making a rude hand gesture on his behalf. "Marceline! That was beyond rude! Do I need to tell the Commander?" With a sigh, the young girl floated down. "Fine, Scinny. What do I have today?" Scinlad, gulping down his fury with fist clenched behind his back said, "Oh, I do believe we have a flying session, then breakfast, then a lesson on modern politics and their implications on the world, lunch, a SHORT, walk, then finally free time and dinner." Marceline floated along side him thoughtfully, (how this was possible was beyond him) and then frowned. "But it's a Friday. Why do I have free time? Not that I'm complaining, of course." she said, finishing the last part quickly as if she was afraid the free time would be snatched away. Scinlad told her curtly, "Because I thought you could do with a break. You've been doing very well in your studies, and as such I thought you should be rewarded." Marceline stopped and, with a massive smile, said "Ohthankyouthankyou! I thought you were angry with me about the walk I took you on and how-" Scinlad silenced her with a look and told her to go get ready to fly before he "changed his mind." She flew off with a huge grinning look on her face. With her back turned, Scinlad smiled slightly before he too flew off, but in the opposite direction.

This would probably be a good point to tell about Scinny. Around 6'3, dark haired, and green eyed, Scinlad was Marceline's caretaker. After an argument when the girl was 7, she had bit him in angry as many young children do when their mad. But because of the army's virus (which allowed her to use 100% of her brain) she accidentally infected him. He from there on became her father of sorts. He gained most of her ability's, and would later eat her fries. The Fry Incident would become a low area in their relationship. (Her "mother" another scientist, would die of old age because she was never infected. But this story has nothing to do with this.)

The importance of the day that told above is this: It was the day that China declared it wanted the trillions of dollars the US owed it.

This point, (thousands of years later called "The Tipping Point") was the reason that the world descended into chaos. First, the US declared all debts to China void due to "technicalities." China saw this as a act of war and invaded the West Coast of the US. The US fought back, and called for the aid of the United Nations as well as it's NATO allies. Quickly, countries like Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea declared war on "The Western Powers" and the western powers themselves fought back. This was World War III. It was a fight between the East and the West. Finally, a Nuclear Weapon was detonated in London.

The following Exchange lasted around 16 minutes. It tore up the actual space-time continuum, allowing for different groups of people with advanced technology (some called it "Magic", but it actually was just technology) to enter the Earth. The radiation mutated existing humans and animals, allowing some to talk, some to fly... Only the people buried far below the surface survived. They put their bunkers to "sleep" to conserve energy and themselves into cyro-sleep, only to wake up thousands of years later to a world known as Ooo. But this is not the story that I am telling.

Marceline and Scinny were lost in the chaos. They waited it out in the lab before leaving, scrounging the country for the color red. Sadly, in this new world, it was not a hard color to find. Scinny was lost after 4 years when a undetonated nuke went off, sending him to another dimension.

Over the following 1,000 years, humanity left on the surface began to die out. Marceline began to think they were extinct until she met a young one named Finn.

So you see why a prologue is necessary? Everything else wouldn't have made sense if I had just plopped you down in it. I need to take a break now, but if you are at all interested, please check back. I will continue to write as soon as I can.

Okay, so there is the Prologue! Tell me what you think, (aka review) and check back in for more!


	2. The Whole Mess Begins

Goodmorning, or goodnight, depending on the hemisphere that you populate. In the last entry, I told you how the story was not about humanity waking up after thousands of years. My meaning should have been more clear. The story was not about humanity waking up after thousands of years . . . at least, not yet. For you see, Marceline could read minds. And she saw how sad the human known as Finn was. After over 8 years of watching him, she got up the nerve so say hi . . . in her own way, of course. She quickly became friends with the boy, and watched him become a adventurer of legends. At the age of 14, he began to ask questions about his past. Where had he come from? Why? How?

Marceline hoped that someone else would know, and tell him. But of course this never happened. So she finally decided to tell him . . . yet again in her own way.

But first, time to learn another new language. I briefly told about the humans who went deep underground? Well, time to learn more.

In the time before the tipping point, the United States of America (yes, the same silly people who made Marceline) knew that China would call in the money that was owed to them. They knew that the war would descend into chaos, so they built bunkers. Huge ones for the masses, small, specialized ones for the military, and medium sized ones for the scientists and engineers that would help re-build when the time came. So these silly people already knew what would happen, and they prepared for it (trying to stop it would be crazy! . . .Right?) And when the feces did hit the fan, they survived. Now, over the 1,000 years they slept, Marceline had wandered the world, looking for remnants of civilization. At first, she found little patches of it in the form of "colonies" and "raiders", but slowly these too died out. When Marceline felt she was finally alone in this world without people, she saw a hatch sticking out of a hill. She investigated, and found the ruins of a massive underground city. Now this was only around 100 or so years before she met Finn, and she saw ruined cases with corpses inside of them. She was still smart, and knew they were Cyro-Chambers that had malfunctioned. Only when she got to the end of the line of these cases did she see that a small group of them were empty. She searched then, long and hard, for these escapees. When she found them, it was too late. They had already mutated.

After this, Marceline gave up hope.

When she met Finn, this dead coal of hope flickered, just a bit, and got her to thinking that maybe, just maybe, there were other bunkers, buried deeper, better built . . . and so she began to look. When she finally found one, it required a handprint to gain access. It wouldn't accept Marceline, but this in itself was wonderful. For it meant that somewhere in this facility, there was power. All she needed was a real, living, breathing human. Like Finn. So she did everything she could to keep him oblivious to the bunker. She built a house over it, kept it a secret, and made sure that Finn knew never, ever to go down in her basement.

She knew that Finn was a curious individual. So when she heard him slip into her house during the day and go to her basement, she knew her plan had worked.

Ok, so there is the second part of this story! Not positive where to go from here, need suggestions!

Thanks for Reading, sorry for how short it was . . . not much time today.


	3. The Whole Mess Continues with Confusion!

Finn was trying to sneak, but was not succeeding in any way. Marceline watched him from here stairs, invisible. She had trouble keeping from laughing, his actions very comedic.

Finn moved slowly, tip-toeing towards the other side of her basement. On the far side of that wall was a shelf, a dead plan, and in the middle a large closet. Finn seemed to be heading for this, and when he reached it he stopped. And stared. Then, with a "steathiness" that was now beginning to get on Marceline's nerves, he opened the closet, revealing a slick, metallic door built into the rock. On the right hand side was a place for a hand to go. Finn again stared. Slowly, he put his hand up to the "reader." Marceline held her breath as it slowly whirled to life. A Beam scanned his hand, then it disappeared. A second later, the hand-reader turned green and the door slid open with a hiss of pressurized air.

Finn had at this point leapt back in fright. He was terrified, or it looked as if he was. He began to walk backwards, then bumped into something. Something floating. Turning slowly, he looked sheepishly at the now silently laughing vampire girl.

"Geez, Finn, took you long enough. I've been waiting for over two and a half years for you to finally get up the courage to come down here." Finn looked at her, his face becoming more confused than sheepish. "Um, Marceline, I- I was just- you know . . . exploring?" The last part came out sounding like an apology. Marceline just shook her head. "Come on, let's see what we got over here." Finn watched her fly towards the open door, and slowly followed her into the darkness. Except that now it wasn't dark. As they walked (and floated) towards the door, lights that were built into the side of what appeared to be a hallway flashed on. Florescent, they reminded Marceline of her first real home.

Finn squeaked in surprise at this, taking in the smell –antiseptic- and the feeling of being surrounded by whiteness. For that's what the hallway was; a long white, clean hallway. It reminded Marceline of a hospital hallway, and Finn felt as if he was polluting it with being there.

After walking for around a half a minute, they came to a small room with a door on the opposite side. It too was white and well lit. On the left and right side of the room where two human sized pod-like things. Marceline immediately recognized them as Cyro-Pods.

The things going through the both of their minds were very different. Marceline was thinking about the power supply, the resources and size of the bunker, and the possibility of more than one of these bunkers existing. Finn was more thinking about the fact that Marceline was not mad at him, or that she knew that a place like this existed.

Marceline whistled when she looked at the pods. "They're intact, Finn. Looks like you're not the only human left after all." Finn looked at her in shock. "Wait, you mean that all this-" he gestured to the room and hallway –" we're built by other humans?" His eyes began to get larger as he yelled, at the top of his lungs, "Mathematical!"

Marceline laughed, and said, "Alright, celebrate later. Let's get these CP's online." Finn looked at her for a second. She sighed. "Right, you don't know about this stuff. Umm, let's turn on those two pod-looking things." "Ohh." Was all Finn said.

The control panels on the two pods were pretty simple. A green button for start-up procedures, then a manipulative control system to slowly bring the people inside's muscles and brain back from artificial suspension.

Marceline got to work on one as Finn watched on. She careful manipulated the controls. Then, well the person inside began to awake, she looked through the computer's system for information on the person inside.

His name was Lt. Michal Ackemann. He was 23, a specialist in Particle Physics and Aerospace Engineering with the United States Air Force. Relations were his two daughters and wife. All we're suspended animation within the bunker.

The other man was named Lt. Taylor Quanrude. A sniper aged 22, he was with the United States Marine Corps. He had no relations besides a girlfriend, in suspended animation also within the bunker.

Marceline felt as if her heart was about to explode in excitement. She had finally found more remnants of humanity. She wasn't alone anymore.

Finn felt pretty much the exact same way. But, well Marceline was messing with the two pods; he was looking at the door. It was solid when he knocked on it, and he felt as if it was cold. On the right side there was another hand reader. This time when he put his hand up against it, it blinked red. He examined it again, and found there was a small slot below it.

By this time, Marceline had come over and was examining the door. "We'll have to get Bonnie to take a look at this before-"she was cut off by the unmistakable sound of two guns cocking. "Freeze and turn around." A gruff, voice demanded. Finn and her slowly turned to find two men looking at them down the barrels of assault rifles.

They took one look at Finn and ignored him, instead aiming at Marceline. Before she could even say anything, the one on the left –Lt. Ackemann, she thought-, grabbed an object she recognized as a DNA scanner. He pointed it at her, and then looked at the result.

"Yo, JQ, their both clean. The kid's human, the girls subject Alpha." Looking back at them, his rifle lowered, he spoke slowly. "C-A-N Y-O-U U-N-D-E-R-S-T-A-N-D M-E?" Marceline immediately responded. "Gentlemen, we can speak. In case you didn't know. We just woke you up, so first things first. I want to be thanked."

Both of the men chuckled at this and said, "Standard Procedure. Can't be too careful, huh? It's good to see you up and kicking, Marcy." Marceline laughed, "Yeah, good to be." Grabbing him in the middle of his arm, she clasped him in a suto handshake for a moment before turning to Finn. "Finn, this is Lt. Michal Ackemann, the guy who taught me everything I know when it comes to tech stuff." Finn, still shocked, just made a small wave. Lt. Ackemann turned to the other man, introducing him to Marceline. "JQ, this is the wonderful Marceline. Also known as Subject Alpha." The other man, "JQ", smiled and held out his hand to Marceline. "Nice to meet you, ma'am." Lt. Ackemann turned back to her and asked. "Aright Marcy, what's the year, status, and food like in present day?" Marceline's smile began to wear off. "It's not good man. It's not good. The year-" she continued before he could ask anything else-"is 2279. After the US government went AWOL underground, the world went to hell. All major cities were hit by at least two nukes, and a ton of undetonated one's are still left scattered across the world. As for the food," she smiled again, "It's not bad. At least it won't be for you."

The man, Ackemann, grimaced. "Find anything else I should know about?" Marceline nodded. "Apparently the nukes tore up the whole space-time continuum pretty bad. Now, there are aliens who think they're magic, mutated everything's, and even the Litch is left over. Basically, we need as much help as we can get." Finn, who at this point was flabbergasted at the knowledge (and Maturity!) Marceline was showing, as well as the responsibility, interjected. "Um, sorry to interrupt, but WHAT THE GLOB is going on?"

Marceline turned and sighed. "Boys, you two should get to work waking up the rest of this bunker. Finn, we need to talk."


	4. The Story Continues With more mess!

Finn was biting his lip. Slowly, he got up and walked to the window, looking out across the plains that's grass moved slwly in the wind. Turning back to Marceline, he asked in a low, sad voice, "So that's all there is? You're dad ended up in the Nightosphere, which is actually a diffirent dimension," he turned and gave her a look of annoyance (he hated dimensions,) "and there's no magic? It's all technology?" Before Marceline could say anything in return Finn continued, "So why then didn't tell me about all of this? And why did you change you're names?" The last part came almost as a afterthought.

Marceline sighed. "Finn, I-I guess I just wanted you to have a little time to grow up. I didn't want you to have to learn about all of this stuff until you were older. I mean, you're like a little brother to me, and I just want you to be safe." Finn growled in a low voice, "I can take of myself, thanks." Marceline nearly laughed in his face. "Oh you can, can you? You have no idea how many things want to kill you and your kind! I used to have to fight them off daily, but now they know you're off limits. I fought them, not you or Jake or anyone. Then your and Jake's "dad" fought them. He knew almost everything I do, because I told him!" Seeing Finn's look, she continued, "Yeah, I was watching you even way back then! So don't tell me turdy stuff that isn't true, especially when it-"

Marceline was intteruppted by the two men. They coughed awkwardly, then the Lt. Ackemann spoke up. "Um, Marcy, we have a problem . . . the door won't open." Marceline sighed, saying "Alright, give me a minute." Turning back to Finn, she said, "Look, Finn, I'm sorry. I should have told you everything earlier. I know you can take care of yourself, but old habits die hard I guess." Finn looked at his feet and muttered something inaudible. "Sorry? Say that again?" "Thankyou." Finn whispered really fast. Marceline just smiled, then put on a tough face and told him too "Shush up, you turd." But not before Finn saw her grin.

Lt. Ackemann turned as Marceline floated into her living room. "Marcy, like I said, the door won't open. We need a authorization card to get, which neither me nor JQ have." Marceline blew her hair out of her eyes in annoyance. "What jack donkey decided it was a good idea to put two guards into Cyro-sleep without anyway to actually get into their bunker when the time came?" An uncomfortable cough came from Lt. Ackemann. "Marcy, there were two cards hanging from both of our Cyro chambers. That's the problem. They're just gone."

Marceline thought back hard to when she had first came across the bunker. She remembered walking into the hallway with an excitement she hadn't felt for ages. When she had come to the door, she remembered a slime on it but at the time had dismissed it as fungus growth. She scrapped it off and had forgot about. But thinking back now, she realized she knew what it was.

"The Litch." she breathed.

Ok, so a Super Short! Sorry about that, not much time today. I now know where I am going with this story, and am pretty excited about it. I want to thank I'mNotCrazyI'mInsane for (her?) wonderful reviews, and everyone else's. I would appreciate more, as well as any other cool plot twists and ideas you guys can think up! Thanks for all the support,

-Dragonfeith

P.S. I'm hoping to have the next chapter up within a few days.


	5. The Litch was Buddha?

Before I continue the story of Marceline, again I must teach you reader's another language: The story of the Litch.

A very, very long time ago, humanity was extremely advanced in its philosophical, moral, and technological skills. We're talking 100,000-200,000 BC.

(Although Humanity wasn't, in fact, humanity at all but an abandoned colony of an Extra-Galactic race that had destroyed itself in an experiment in dimensional transcendation. But this is not important.)

"Humanity" forgot about their space origins through time, and created their own story as to how they had the technology they did (those who knew the real truth hid it for their own political gains.) But even these "ancients" had flaws.

They were just as violent as their descendants would be in thousands of years. War broke out between different groups, and all technology from the time was destroyed. The few survivors that were left began to rebuild, but forgot their mistakes.

The very few ancients that still possessed technology from the ancient times were called wizards and warlocks. They ruled over civilizations such as Rome, Greece, Mayan, Aztec, and Samaria as gods.

These so called gods began to go insane after the first thousand years, and continued the wonderful legacy that is humanity. They fought and killed each other.

When the "gods" were done fighting, only one remained. His name was Nam'Asku, but later became known as "The Litch." He was the only Ancient that had not gone insane. Instead, he had settled in the mountains in the Eastern hemisphere and started a gentle religion known as Buddhism. The only time he fought was when the insane ancient's attacked. Weakened from his fight with the other Ancients, he retreated into the sea ruins of an ancient human city, living off of the radioactive waste that was left over from the ancient wars.

As he lived there, empires rose and fell. Technology advanced until the Lich was startled into motion by his sensors picking up an atomic detonation on the surface. He meant to tell the surface about the mistakes that his people had made.

But, the Litch was too slow. By the time he had prepared to contact the worlds governments, World War II had ended with the bombing of two cities, resulting in the loss of millions. The Litch, already on the border of insanity, was pushed into evil. Slowly, he manipulated the world's governments into a nuclear war.

By now, the United States had learned of the Litch's existence. They had found "his" city off the coast of Florida. Using the little scraps of technology left there, the United States created "Subject Zero," later to be called "Subject Alpha" due to the introduction of a second mutated being (Scinclad.)

When the tipping point occurred, the Litch was in China. He was caught by a nuclear warhead, and was subsequently injured. While injured, he was imprisoned by the last of the above ground US forces in a cage made of his own technology. (The team that put him there was known as "B-Team" or sometimes even "Billy Team.")

He finally excepted when a muted snail broke the cage from the outside.

He then-

Excuse me, I will continue when I can. I must stop writing now.

Ok, so that's chapter 5! If anything need clarification,

Tell or ask me in the reviews!

Next chapter I'll continue the actual story.

Thanks!

-Dragonfeith


	6. Akward Time with V22's!

I apologize for the last entry stop. I had some . . . issues.

No matter. Back to the story.

The Litch bode his time, keeping only minor skirmishes between other beings. The only offensive move he really made was to steal the access keys.

Which brings us up to date with Marceline's situation.

Lt. Ackemann sighed in annoyance at the recent turn of events. Here he was, he thought, in the middle of the post apocalypse, and he was sitting in a kitchen made of candy, sipping tea across from a pink girl named, no joke, Princess Bubblegum.

"So that's where we are, Bonnie." Marceline finished with a flourish, enjoying the expression that bordered both embracement and anger on the Princess's face.

After a few moments of startled silence, PB sighed. She immediately regretted it, thinking that there had already been enough sighing that day. Looking up at the floating girl vampire, she asked, "Okay, thanks for finally bringing me up to date on what happened to the world, but . . . why? I mean," She added quickly, "I can't exactly DO anything."

Lt. Ackemann interrupted. "Actually, there is something that you can do. We need transportation in the form of a vehicle known as an Osprey. Marceline gave your ancestor's the information on how and where to find the vehicle in case something happened to her. And what do you know, she forgot." The Lt. glared at Marceline, who looked away sheepishly, before continuing. "So we need that information." Bubblegum looked at the young man oddly before a look of realization came across her face. "Oh, you mean the Item." Her eyes lit up with excitement. "It's the biggest secret in the Candy Kingdom! I had no idea that . . . . No matter. I will show you." Standing, she walked towards her dungeon, the group of three humans, a floating vampire girl, and now a "magic" dog following.

This is probably a good time to add in what had happened while the Princess, Marceline, and Lt. Ackemann had been talking.

Finn had gone to get Jake, while JQ went with him. As the Tree House came into view, the older man joked, "Danm, that's got to get you in the good books with the ladies. Have you ever had any takers?" Finn stared at him, then said, "Taker's of . . . what? Cause if they steal, we'd have to put them in jail."

JQ chuckled nervously. "Um, well . . . you know . . . takers of . . . fun times?" Finn gave him a blank look. "Umm, hero's way?" Another Blank look. "The way of the man?" Finn just continued to stare with incomprehension.

"You know what? Never mind."

When they did arrive at the house, Finn told Jake about everything. Jake sat there for a few minuets before nodding. The first thing Jake said when he saw the man was, "Finn, do you have something you need to tell me?" Finn screeched out a "No Man!" before telling Jake the story of what had happened. When he was finished (and out of breath) Jake said, "Alright. So we now have to go find ancient technology, fight a super evil dude, and then meet a bunch of humans that have been asleep for over a thousand years? Finn, I think I know what time it is . . . It's-"At this point Finn joined in. "ADVENTURE TIME!" JQ watched this entire procession with a look of both confusion and amusement. When Jake and Finn noticed him again, they chuckled embarrassedly before Jake told him, "It's just kind of a . . . thing . . . we . . . do . . . . . . . . . . yeah . . . . . . . . ."

The only thing JQ said was, "No worries man, I don't judge."

The Princess led the group to a cell and opened it. Then, she felt along the wall opposite the cell door until she found something and pushed it. Immediately, part of the wall swung, revealing a passage similar to the one underneath Marceline's house. Florescent lights lit up. The group followed the passage until they came to a door with an hand reader. "Finn, would you do the honors?" Finn stepped up, and watched the door slide silently to the side.

The group walked into a chamber large enough to fit the Tree House in. And in the center, like a dog awaiting it's master in ancient times, sat the oddest looking thing Finn had ever seen.

It was made of metal, with a body shaped a little like a bird. Two wing-like things protruded from both sides, topped with what looked like broadswords. The back of the thing had a tail with two more wings, but these without the broadsword things.

The first to speak was Lt. Ackemann. "Yes, the V-22 Osprey. The US military's best friend." He said, winking at the awestruck look on PB, Finn, and Jake's faces.

PB nearly choked. "Wait, you mean this . . . thing can FLY?"

"Danm straight." JQ told her. "I remember during the wars we used to fly these things low through valleys in California." He whistled admiringly. "These babies were the most maneuverable things around. Glad to see one intact."

Marceline laughed. "Alright boys and girls, let's get her fueled up and let's fly."

I must stop again, I'm sorry to say. I will write soon.

Alright, Chapter 6 is done! Review or the story might die! Who's your favorite character?

What do YOU want to happen (can't say it will, but I'm interested.)

What do you THINK will happen?

Review and answer these questions!

Peace, Love, Dragonfeith Out.


	7. Even more Akward Time with a V22!

I apologize for the interruptions in the story. My programming is . . . . no matter. Back to the story itself:

Princess Bubblegum waved to her people as she flew over their heads in the Osprey. Her people could see her through the open ramp on the back of the Osprey as it flew overhead. Finn stood on this ramp, looking out, and vomited.

While Princess Bubblegum, with a disgusted expression, helped him clean up, Marceline and Lt. Ackemann discussed ideas as to where the Litch might be from the cockpit.

"Look Lt., the last time I saw him he was hurtling towards the sun. And don't ask." She continued, giving the man a sideways glance. "He's either dead or really hurt. I'm worried that he might have had the authorization cards on him when he went in." Lt. Ackemann shook his head. "Naw, he wouldn't have them on him. Not how he operates. From what we know, he usually has a stash of important items. And he keeps them," he said, "In the place he feels safest. Now we know that's no longer his old city, so where now?"

Marceline shrugged. "I have no idea. Honestly, I don't even know where to start." She shook her head. "Maybe another Ancient's city?"

The Lt. again disagreed. "No, I don't think so. Maybe an important place to the Ancients, but not another city. Maybe-"

As they continued their conversation, Jake and JQ had their own.

"So, if your name is Taylor Quanrude, why do people call you JQ instead of TQ?" JQ laughed. "Well, when I was fighting, I was known as the Jester. I was always making jokes at other peoples, as well as my own, expense." He chuckled. "This was before the tipping point. But the first time I really got the name was when I needed to be interviewed by a reporter. I had just gotten back from a mission, and was caught off guard by the reporter. He asked me what my name was, and because we're not allowed to give our real name, I said the first thing that came to mind: Jester. When my buddies learned of this, they made sure the name stuck." He chuckled again. "Danm, it's hard to believe that was over one thousand years ago." Jake nodded in an understanding way. "And now you're talking to a dog that can talk back. I'd be interesting to know what your buddies had to say of that." Both the man and the dog laughed.

"Finn, next time vomit out the back of the flying thing, ok?" Princess Bubblegum told Finn. "It's not really a . . . very attractive thing to do." She laughed. As she turned to walk away, Finn grabbed her arm. "Princess," he said, "can I ask you something?" The princess turned back to him, and said, "Of course, Finn. What's up?"

Finn swallowed, then quickly, as if he needed to get it out of him before he couldn't, he asked, "Princess, I know that you and Marceline aren't exactly friends or enemies, but you're something I don't understand. I was just wondering what exactly-" The Princess cut him off. "Finn, although that's really none of your business, I'll explain." She sighed "Ok, um, so . . . you know that when two people really love each other, they fall in love?" Fin nodded. "Well, Marceline and I are kinda like that. See," she continued quickly, catching Finn's look, "some of those people like the same kind of people, or both kinds of people." Finn narrowed his brow in confusion. "So . . . one of you is a BOY!" He exclaimed. Princess Bubblegum sighed. "Um, not really-"

JQ, who had overheard the conversation, cut her off. "Yo, princess, you should go check on something somewhere in the cockpit. Finn and I need to talk about . . . boy things. Okay?" The Princess nodded and mouthed a "Thank You" before moving in the direction of the cockpit. JQ sighed. "Finn, so we need to talk."

When Finn and JQ returned to the group, Finn didn't say anything. When Jake asked him, "Are you okay?" he only got to the "you". "I don't want to talk about it." Was all Finn had to say.

Meanwhile, Marceline talked to the Lt. and Princess Bubblegum. "Princess, you know a bit about the Litch. Any idea where he hung out?" The princess nodded uncertainly. "Well, I heard rumors that he lived in a cave beyond the Fire Kingdom. But those could've been only rumors. I don't really know." Marceline nodded. "Okay, that's as good a place as any to start. Lt?" The Lt. nodded, and then looked at her. "Um, where?" Marceline laughed. "Go North."

I will update soon.

Okay, so that's it! Please review!

The last chapter got no reviews at all :-*(

Please? For the sake of (what I hope is) a good story?

Thanks!

-Dragonfeith


	8. Ice King, you're screwed

Again, I continue the story of the adventures of our intrepid (and pretty badass, if one thinks about it) group.

"Um, Lt., are you sure we can make it over the Fire Kingdom? Cause I'm reading some pretty heavy concentrations of gamma radiation, not to mention the heat coming off of the place." JQ said, poking at the control panels of the Osprey.

"We'll be fine." The Lt. responded, focusing on the controls. "The heat and radiation shields should keep us nice and cool."

Marceline, Finn, Jake, and PB looked through a side window at the rapidly approaching Fire Kingdom. "Wow, it takes Jake and I at least four hours of walking to get to the fire kingdom, and we're here in under-" Finn counted on his fingers "-thirsty minuets! Mathematical! I want one of these." Marceline gave him a sideways glance and laughed despite herself. "Don't count on it. These things cost around 60 million dollars." Seeing the blank look on Finn's face, she clarified, "About 400,000 Ooozions." Finn's jaw dropped. "That's a lot of Oozions." was all that he said.

Marceline turned to Princess Bubblegum. "Changing the subject, Princess, what do you think about this supposed Litch's hideout?"

Princess Bubblegum sighed. "Well, I don't really know. The guy who told me about the cave was a candy adventurer. He said that he had found-" here she struggled to remember- " Bad sugar. That the Litch was mutating people and animals in a cave past the Fire Kingdom. But he didn't say where exactly, or how. At the time I thought that he was-"

She was cut off by the sound of metal tearing. Finn, her, Jake, and Marceline jumped  
(and floated) up as the back of the Osprey opened to revel a flying old man with ice cowering in front of a flaming girl.

"And don't you EVER try to kidnap me again!" she screamed, the Ice King (who of course it was) continued his display of defeat towards the Flame Princess.

"Princess, I'm really sorry. I thought you were older when I came to kidnap you. And I didn't know you were so . . . so mean." He sniffed.

The girl looked at him slowly before sighing and lowering the metal door she had torn off of the Osprey. "Alright, don't cry. I maybe over-reacted a little bit. But that doesn't give you any right to-" she looked up and, as if seeing them for the first time, looked at the group in the back of the Osprey. "Finn? Jake? Marceline? PB? What are you guys doing here?"

Finn spoke up first. "We're going to find the Litch's hideout and discover ancient secrets from the mushroom war. Wanna come?"

FB immediately said "Sure!" and joined the group.

The Ice King, who watched this entire proceeding with interest, murmured, "Well, I sure don't want to be left all alone. I'm coming." No one argued.

As FB began to weld the door back into place, Finn told her that he didn't know she was able to fly. She only smiled, and returned the statement with a question of what was going on. "Well, you see, it's kinda complicated . . ." Finn began.

I must discontinue writing. I will continue as soon as possible.

I apologize for any inconveniences this short chapter might have caused.

Alright, you know the drill: Review Review Review!

Thanks,

-Dragonfeith


	9. Danm you Minitours!

The Osprey flew low over the mountains, searching for a landing site. Finn watched through the windows as animals, looking like ants, flew underneath the fuselage.

"We're coming up on a LZ that looks pretty good. Can anyone else see it?" JQ's voice came over the radio. Finn looked around, finding the site he thought JQ was talking about. Before he could say anything, Marceline came on. "Naw, looks too exposed." After about an half hour of this, a landing zone was finally found. With a easily defendable Cave, it looked as though it would work as a perfect hiding spot. When the Osprey's wings an rotors were finally rolled up and, and the vehicle itself moved into the cave, the sun was going down.

"Alright, I'll take first watch. PB and Michal, you take second. Finn, Jake, you're on third. FP and Ice King, you guys start after them. No fires to give us away, and everyone sleeps in the Osprey. Got it?" JQ asked, making sure that no one argued. "Ok, nice. I'll wake next watch in two hours." The Lt. nodded in agreement. "Keep sharp, wake us if you see anything. And overall," he added, "do NOT compromise our position. Dismissed."

The next morning, the group woke to the sound of sizzling. Looking up, they saw Marceline sitting next to a roaring fire, seven fish skewered over it. She grinned in a chestier- reminiscent way. "Got breakfast."

Princess Bubblegum gave the fish a disgusted look. Finn rubbed his hands together and his breath became mist as he walked over to the fire. "Come on, PB, this looks great!" he said, simultaneously standing over the fire. Jake nodded his head, looking hungrily at the fish. "And not only that," JQ added as he came up behind the trio, "we have the Marine rations to complement it." The Ice King, who had just got back from his "power walk" sighed contently. "Ah, the group together. Braving hardships and-"Marceline interrupted him. "Save it for your fan fiction, Icy. I don't want to hear it."

After breakfast, the choice of who had to wake up the dangerous sleeping teenage girl (who also happened to be able to shoot fire out of her hands,) Flame Princess. Eventually it was decided that Finn should have the honors because he knew her best. When Finn emerged a minute later, singed and smoking, he weakly told them that she "Wanted five more minutes."

An hour later, the group began it's hike to a number of what they thought were suspicious looking areas. The first stop was an old gas station. The sign had once said "Shell gas," but not read "S-e-a-s." The rest was unreadable.

The station itself turned out to be nothing but a giant rat family's home. After hastily apologizing for intruding, the group moved on.

The next stop was a crashed airliner. After investigating and determining it to be nothing, the group stopped to break for lunch. After more (according to FB delicious) rations, they moved on. The final site was also the most odd. An old mineshaft, it had a paved, hard pressed path leading to it. The group approached with caution, sensing danger emanating from the shaft. Before the group could move foreword, the Ice King hissed at them to get down. "I thought I heard something with my Wizard Ears." Marceline whispered, seeing the military men's looks, "Mutation." The two nodded.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, a group of goblins walked into the mine, being hurried along by a Minotaur.

As they walked towards the entrance, it shimmered and disappeared. Where it was now was a checkpoint with Minotaur standing guard. The goblins were checked by these guards, who, after clearing them, pushed a button. The mine shaft reappeared, but not before Marceline got a glimpse of slime on the wall. PB spoke first. "Holograms, and pretty advanced ones, too." Marceline motioned for the group to move back.

When they got out of earshot of the mine-thing, she told them about the slime. "It was this." They all looked at her. "It was the Litch's." she hissed.

Alright, that's chapter 9! Thanks for reading! I'll update as soon as I can!

And please review! There is nothing I like better than reading a well thought out review!

Thanks,

-Dragonfeith


	10. The Final Frontier

The LT looked at Marceline. "Are you positive?" he asked, his eyebrow raised. "Certain." came the reply.

The LT nodded, then started talking. "Alright, there's a Strategic Supply dump a half hour flight from here. There should be weapons and ammo there, and hopefully a gun range. Lets go there and arm our selfs. "

The SSD was a three foot thick concrete building sitting in the middle of nowhere, which was exactly where it was supposed to be to avoid prying eyes and unwanted attention in the days after the so-called "apocalypse.".The group walked up to the building and found a doorway which was made of reinforced concrete and steel.

After a quick hand scan, the group entered to find a host of racks holding various military issue guns, RPGs and flamethrowers, along with their ammo. JQ went and picked up a standard issue X-7 and a rail gun sniper rifle, the R-1. The Lt. Picked up a light sub-machine gun and a desert eagle, but nothing else. In military circles, he was notoriously good in hand-to-hand combat.

Finn, took an AR-15, an easy to use assault rifle. Marceline picked duel automatic pistols as she had other means of fighting. The Ice King, Jake, and FP would use their own abilities to fight, saying that they didn't feel comfortable with firearms. Princess Bubblegum refused to have any part of it, saying that guns were what got the world into this mess. JQ laughed and told her that they were what was going to get the world out, too.

After about four hours of training on the range, the group bedded down for the night.

As they lay in cots, Finn whispered to Jake. "Dude, I really don't want to kill anyone tomorrow. Do you think we'll have to?" Jake sighed. "I don't know, man. I don't know. I hope we don't. I hope that seeing the guns will be enough of a scare for the guards that they'll surrender, but somehow, I don't think so."

The next day, they were ready. JQ would provide sniper support well the LT. Would provide cover from the air, as well as give the group a means of extraction. Pb would ride with him in the Osprey.

Marceline, Finn, and the Ice King would "storm the keep" so to speak, using the weapons retrieved earlier from the SSD. They would enter through the front of the complex well Jake and FP created a distraction (which wouldn't be hard, considering. Then, when the guards were dealing with Jake, FP, JQ, and the LT, Finn, Marceline, and the Ice King would sneak in.

As the plan unfolded, the old saying, that "Plans are useless, but Planning is priceless." came into effect. Marceline, Finn, and the Ice King got in okay, but once in were faced with a long dirt hallway. After walking all the way down in without encountering anyone (or thing) they came to a underground table lit by hundreds of flickering lanterns.

But that wasn't what they were looking at. In the middle of the chamber, sitting on a raised metal platform, was a floating pyramid around the size of a small mountain. Goblin workers could be seen welding huge gashing in it back together. Minitours were ll around the pyramid too, but so far none had noticed the group of spies.

Marceline motioned for them to follow her towards the pyramid. When they reached the first working goblins, they told them to be quiet. The goblins did as they were told.

Once the group got underneath the pyramid, Marceline started talking. "Guys, I think the Litch is somewhere in here. If he is, we are WAY underprepared. I don't know what he's building but it can't be good." The Ice King, who this whole time had been looking ecstatic, started rocking back and forth, saying "Om my glob you guys this is SO cool it's like a movie. Aren't we just best pals comin' together to deafest evil and grow closer in the process?" Suddenly he got serious. "I think it already has."

Finn shook his head in disgust while Marceline rolled her eyes- then suddenly looked up. "Oh my god." she said. "I know what he's building. It's a- a spaceship."

Helllllooooo everyone! Sorry for the gun descriptions and stuff, but a little bit of action might be nice.

A bit of a cliffhanger, huh? This is going to be fun

I seriously hope there are some people still reading this. I REALLY need some reviews to help me out here.

Thanks for watching/reading/whatever you want to call it!

-Dragonfeith


	11. Violence

"Okay, let's think. First of all, why?" the Lt.'s voice came over the radio. Marceline shook her head, then, realizing that the LT. couldn't see her, spoke. "I have no idea. Maybe he just wants to leave Earth?" she asked doubtfully, knowing that the Litch didn't just do things, but acted because of reasons, no matter how insane.

"Alright, well, before you guys leave; get as much info as you can. He's got to have a command center of some sort. Maybe he left the key and some clues on what he's doing there." Marceline agreed. Cutting off the feed from the Osprey, she indicated that Finn and the Ice King follow her.

She crept out from where they were hiding, and tried to find a way to locate an entrance into the large pyramid shaped craft where she assumed the control room would be. Finding nothing but the heavily guarded main entrance, she cursed.

"Finn, Icy,," (the Ice King looked positively ecstatic about his new "buddy name!) "there's only one way in. Through the guards. So here's what we'll do." As Finn heard the plan, he paled, but then nodded and got into position well Marceline updated the Lt.

Manitour's are naturals at being guards. Large, easily replaceable, and capable of a lot of damage, they were everything's dream guard/henchmen. Their only downside was their relative lack of common sense. It wasn't so much that they were stupid as that they didn't have forethought.

So when a noise came from a rock, and a shoe teetered out from behind it, the first three guards just stared at it. A second shoe appeared from behind the rock. The shoes began to walk slowly towards the entrance, seemingly of there own accord. So consequently the guards' were surprised when a fist hit two of them squarely in the face. The third began to raise his weapon, an old rifle that had seen better days, but not near quickly enough. He was unconscious before the other two hit the ramp.

The guards in the back raised their weapons and opened fire on what appeared to be attack shoes.

But instead of moving foreword the attack shoes ran backwards. A pair of legs, then waist, upper torso, and head appeared connected to the shoes. Marceline stumbled backwards, half falling, half jumping behind the cover of the rock. Cursing her inability to have the concentration required to float, shoot and be invisible at once, she called Finn over the radio. "Now!"

On a ledge overlooking the ramp, Finn popped out and began to pepper the guard's position with bullets. The guards turned their fire on him, and continued to fire at both his cover as well as Marcelines, when a cold feeling swept up behind them. "Hello boys." the Ice King said as he froze the remaining guards.

Marceline flew to Finn, grabbed him, and landed next to the Ice King. "Didn't I sound cool you guys?" the Ice King asked giddily. "Not the time, Ice King." Finn said, hefting his weapon towards the entrance to the space craft. The Ice King shrugged, muttering "Can't win em' all."

Well the group of three assaulted the ship, the Lt, JQ, FP, Jake, and PB held off the majority of the Litch's forces. "Marceline, whatever you're doing, you'd better hurry! These guys aren't stopping." The Lt. called into his mike, attempting to keep his voice calm and collected. JQ called up from his sniping position at the back of the Osprey. "We got RPG's!" He yelled. The Lt. turned the Osprey so he could see the rockets and maneuvered around them. "Jake, I'll meet you at the LZ and pick you up. There's no way we can hold these guys off any longer." Jake, looking up at the Osprey, nodded. "Alright, we'll meet you there."

Looking up at the now retreating Osprey, Jake called for Flame Princess to hold on to his back. When she didn't answer, he turned only to find her on the ground, clutching her shoulder in surprise. "That-that actually hurt." She said right before she collapsed. Jake just picked her up and stretched to the LZ, ignoring the Minotaur's fire. They seemed to be blinded by the heat and smoke that FP had caused, so none of the bullets hit him.

The Osprey hovered at the LZ, not quite touching the ground. This way they would be able to gain speed and altitude faster. Jake pulled himself and FP into the cargo area where Princess Bubblegum was waiting. She smiled when she saw Jake, then paled when she saw FP. "Jake, put her over here." She said, donning fire proof gloves. "What happened?" she asked, looking at the younger girls wound. "I turned around, and then when I turned back she was on the ground." PB nodded. "Okay. Jake, I'm going to need you to leave." Grabbing a med pack and a sheet, she put up a substitute Operating area. Hanging up the sheets, for privacy as well as sanitary reasons, she called for JQ. He came from the cockpit, and immediately donned a duplicate pair of gloves as those of PB. The sheets pulled aside, and Jake saw the Princess was bleeding from her wound as PB pulled the girls dress out of the wound, bringing with it more flesh. Before he could see more, or offer to help, the sheet closed.

The group still inside of the Litch's lair was no longer attempting stealth. Instead, they opted for a more aggressive approach. The Ice King went first, freezing everything that moved, Finn kept in the middle, covering Ice King, and Marceling brought up the rear, watching for hostiles following them. After what seemed an eternity, but what was probably only a few minutes, the group found the control room. And in it was the Litch.

But not the real one. A hologram of him. Marceline shot it on impulse, and then turned her attention to the entrance. It seemed to be the only way into the control room. Well she covered that, Finn began searching for papers, disks, anything that could help them find the purpose of the spacecraft of find the key. What he found, he threw into his pack. When that was full, he gave papers to the Ice King, who put them into his beard. Both Marceline and Finn grimaced at this development, but did not protest. When, finally, all the papers and disks were collected, Marceline started out the door, only to be pushes back inside by gunfire. Cursing, she turned and grabbed out he pistols. Yelling at Finn and the Ice King to get down, she jumped at a nearby window, shooting as she flew through the air.

The window broke, and Marceline, quickly followed by the Ice King who was carrying Finn, flew out into the open space of the chamber. Quickly locating the way they came in, Marceline began firing at the guards, who jumped for cover. Without stopping, she flew up the corridor and out into the sunlight. Hissing, she grabbed her hat and threw it on before the light could do any real damage.

The Ice King and Finn followed her out, Finn firing wildly at the perusing guards.

When they finally got out of range of the guards, he turned his head towards Marcline, who was already on the radio, attempting to find the Osprey. As it turned out, there was no need. It was already in the air with it's ramp open. The group flew in and fell in a heap to the metal floor of the Osprey.

It was silent for a moment before Finn began to examine himself for bullets holes and bleeding. Not finding anything, he turned to the Ice King, who was fine, and then Marceline, who had a large cut where glass from the window had sliced her. She looked at it and it seemed to heal. Finn thought it was another of her vampire powers.

The Lt, having set the Osprey on cruise, joined the group in the back. For around a minute, everyone rested, allowing the adrenaline to come down. After taking a deep breath that was not necessary for a vampire, Marceline was the first to speak. "Is everyone okay?" she asked. No one answered. They were all staring at the sheet where the low voices of both PB and JQ filtered from. "Where's flame princess?" Finn asked, even though he knew the answer.

The group was silent throughout the whole ride to the candy kingdom. All were thinking about how naïve they had been. Marceline was again the first to speak up. "Guys, we knew this wouldn't be a cakewalk. We all agreed to do this, put ourselves on the line…" her words sounded hollow, even to her. How could she have been so stupid? She asked herself, over and over. But she knew the answer. She hadn't really expected anything to go wrong. She had become too complacent in the land of Ooo. There had seemed to be a bubble of goodness separating her, and the rest of Ooo, from reality. There was violence, but not really. The events of the last hour had brought that to a painfully clear point. The bubble was gone She sighed. The last time she had seen real violence was in the first two hundred years after the Great Mushroom War. After that, the world had seemed like a big game. Now, somebody was injured and possibly dying a few feet from her because of her being arrogant. She sighed for the umpteenth time.

When they got to the Candy Kingdom, the citizens gathered and watched their leader and protectors step down from the amazing flying …thing. PB did not look up at them as she and JQ carried FP into the hospital.

A few days later, the mood had improved somewhat. Jake, JQ, the Lt. and Marceline were all staying at the treehouse, which was closer to the candy kingdom than Marceline's cave house. Finn never left FP's side.

The problem, PB ad explained well Dr. Princess and the rest of the staff at the candy hospital treated the fire kingdom's princess, was that the bullet had became lodged in FP's shoulder, and then melted due to her natural heat. The chemicals and lead in the bullet had become infused in her blood stream. That was where the problem lay. The good news was that she would recover. The bad news was that until she was healthy, she would have to remain in a drug-induced coma to prevent overheating. The healing process could take anywhere from a week to a year.

Marceline had tried to visit the Flame Princess only once. She floated through the candy kingdom's hospital. When she got to the Flame Princess's room, she stopped and peeked into the hospital room. Finn held the girls hand, and shook. But he had no more tears left to fall.

Okay, a bit of a sad, cliffhanger ending. But do not worry. Things will undoubtedly get better for everyone involved.

A question for the lot of you: did anyone get the reference in Burning Low? As in, when Princess Bubblegum told Finn that, "Sometimes you want to kiss someone really bad, but you can't. Because of responsibility for your kingdom." If you did great, if not, then you probably have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. But that's okay.

Finally, does anyone know how to draw? Because I don't. I mean, when I was ten I tried to draw a helicopter and my parents thought is was a horse jumping over the moon well holding a flower in its mouth.

Point being, I need a picture to put up for this story. But I don't know how to draw. So: If somebody out there enjoys reading this, and has time, and likes drawing, I would love it if they drew a scene from this story that I could use as its picture.

Thanks for the support and continued interest!

-Dragonfeith


	12. Ice King Finally Thinks

The Ice King, being his usual self, had become sad, then forgot about the flame princess. So well the rest of the group mourned and regrouped, the Ice King began to think. About his new obsession, Dr. Princess.

He felt like he…..knew her. But he had only met her once. He felt as if they were connected somehow. He sighed and went back to writing his fan fiction.

He continued to write for around a half hour when a Gunter came up and quacked in his face. Startled, the Ice King froze the poor unsuspecting penguin, who clattered harmlessly to the floor, all but his head incased in ice. The Ice King shook his head, and then turned to continue his story, only to find his pencil had rolled under his chair. Cursing Glob, he went to pull the offending pencil out only to touch something wooden. Pencil forgotten, he retrieved a picture. As he stood up to look at it, a note drifted to the floor. Before glancing at the picture, he read the note.

"_August 14__th__, 2022. _

_I know it's…cold outside, but I can't feel it. I-I know it's this crown. It's showing me things, things I don't want to see! But every time I try to get rid of it, it comes back. _

_The bombs have stopped falling. No one is fighting anymore. With my new found powers, I was able to fly across the now desolate landscape. It was…horrible. It felt like a nightmare. And the worst part was that it was deathly silent. Not a sound was to be heard. No birds, no cars, not even any gunshots. Nothing. It was…lonely. And through it all, the snow fell._

_August- I don't know anymore. I'm losing my mind. I woke up one morning in a mountain made of Ice. I realized that I hade made it. This-this crown in beginning to overwhelm me! I miss my princess so much now…yes, my princess. My princesssssssssssss…_

_August 19 I don't know anything anymore. I can't live like this. It's so cold. The only time I'm not cold is when I have the crown on. The last time I put on the crown, it kept control over me even after I took it off…I know that someday someone will read this, I, I feel the need to tell them that I am sorry. Whatever happens, whatever I do, I am a honest man. I mean no one no harm. I just miss my princess._

The Ice King stopped here, and watched a tear slide off his nose. Why was he crying?, he wondered. I shouldn't be crying. It's not like it was me writin-

The Ice King slowly looked at the picture, realization beginning to dawn. "Oh my glob." He whispered.

The picture dropped out of his hand, forgotten. On it was a woman climbing down a red hatch built into the ground. She seemed tired, sad. Around her soldiers stood, fighting something out of the picture's point of view. And on her shirt was a tag that said, "Dr. #1618914351919."

Okay people, a pretty short chapter here. I feel like no one is reading this anymore…..IS ANYONE OUT THERE?! Oh well….

Anyways, I would really appreciate some reviews to spur me on. The story is coming to a close, kind of.

Thanks for your support!

Oh, and by the way, "1618914351919" matches up to the letters "Princess" in a simple alphabet code.

Love, peace, out.

-Dragonfeith


	13. Space: Not quite as Nice as we Thought

Marceline sat at the top of a ruined skyscraper, watching as the full moon rose. She sighed.

"_They ran. Ran screaming, dyeing, bleeding. People trampled over those who had fallen in an attempt to get away from the gunshots that rang out in the city._

_Fighter Jets came in low and fast, letting their missile's fly. The attacking group was momentarily clouded in a hail of explosions and smoke. The defenders took advantage of this to get to cover, running into buildings, pulling tanks and humvees behind wreckage in a last ditch attempt to set up a defensive perimeter. Before the opposing forces could continue their fight, a roar was heard, along with the flash of a thousand suns. Both forces were first pulled inward, and then thrown out, by the nuclear blast. And when the screaming finally faded, and the dust finally settled, both forces were no longer. _

_A tank that was not as hard hit by blast as it had been shielded by wreckage seemed to shudder as the top hatch was opened. A soldier, bleeding, climbed out and stumbled onto the ground. He stood, looking around, and then found what he was looking for. A car that had been utterly blackened by the blast was the young man's target. He dug through the wreckage of the car until he found a blackened body. Shaking his head in denial, he pulled it out small body. He dropped to his knees, clutching the body to his chest, silhouetted by the mushroom cloud behind him, and screamed to the dying world in pain and anguish before another blast, from a low flying jet, incinerated him. _

_None of the people below had noticed a floating man with a young girl crying into his chest in the middle of the street. Around him were the battered remains of a tank, which had protected him and the girl during the initial blast. "_

The moon was now a quarter of the way up in the ladder of the sky. With surprise, Marceline felt tears coming from her eyes. Why, she asked herself, must humanity be so full of hate? But, she thought, not all of humanity was….

"_The hospital was full. Ambulances were being turned away, sent to other places that were just as swamped with the injured. _

_Dr. Shomane, you're needed in the ER. Dr. Shomane, you're needed in the ER. _

_The Dr. looked up from his patient and sighed. "I'll be right back." He told his young patient, a boy of around eleven. The boy nodded. _

_The Dr. walked briskly through the halls, not noticing the little girl fallowing a few yards behind. Lost in his thoughts, he made it to the ER and was surprised to find two men in military uniform sitting and waiting for him. When they saw him, they stood and went to shake his hand. "Good evening, sir. I'm Captain Stanly and this is First Lt. Manley." The other man shook the doctor's hand before sitting down. "What can I do for you, gentlemen?" the doctor asked, surprised that he was of any interest to the military. "Sir, we need help. There area a lot of injured topside and we need someone to help keep them alive well they're transported here." The doctor raised an eyebrow. "And what of my current patients?" he asked. The captain smiled. "We have a young doctor coming in to take your place. She's less experienced, but we think she'll do well in a hospital, especially down here." The doctor nodded absentmindedly. "Gentlemen, I'll need about an hour and a half to get my things ready. But," he smiled, "I will do whatever I can do to help those above." _

_The helicopter pulled over the landscape. Gunfire and muzzle flashes lit up the night below them, but up here, things were mostly peaceful. _

_They had just returned from a destroyed hospital, and were now in the process of transporting the most injured and critical patients when the radio lit up. _

"_This is Foxtrot 1-0-7. We need medical assistance and evac as soon as possible. We're engaged by unknown enemies." The doctor looked down at where he guessed the group was, and saw darkness with the occasional gun flash. Oddly, there were no flashes on the other side. _

"_Pilot, take us down." The doctor ordered. The pilot gave him an odd look, then shook his head. "Sir, I'm not going to be able to get close to the fight. The landing zone's too hot, and the copter is too big." He pointed towards a clearing. "That's where I'll set down." The doctor nodded. "Do it." _

_As soon as the helicopter touched the ground, four marines and the doctor, who was carrying a medical bag, rushed from the aircraft and towards where they other unit was holed up. Almost immediately, they found them. A young soldier, leaning against a tree for cover and support as his leg was destroyed, saw them and waved. "Thank god you guys are here. Four of our original seven are dead. The rest are wounded, but only one critically." The doctor nodded. "Alright, I'll get the critically injured one. The rest of you, help get the other patients to the chopper." The marines, whose main job it was to protect the doctor, hesitated before seeing their charges look. They scrambled away. _

_The doctor found the most injured soldier propped up against a rock, shaking in both fear and shock. The rock, which sat in the middle of a clearing, faced the woods where whatever the soldiers were fighting was. The man, who almost shot the doctor in surprise, fainted when the doctor touched his wounds out of sheer pain. The wounds were like teeth and claw marks. The doctor, slinging the man over his shoulder, began to turn before he felt as if he was being watched. Turning slowly, he found himself looking into the dark forest. Everything had gone silent, save for the distant sounds of the chopper. _

_A sense of uncontrollable fear came over the doctor, and he began to run. _

_He heard the…thing behind him, chasing him through the forest. He didn't look back, but ran. Once he stumbled, and then fell in the semi-darkness, dropping the injured soldier. _

_The doctor cursed, grabbed a dropped weapon-a assault rifle- and began to fire widely into the night. The thing that had been chasing him shrieked in pain and anger, but did not advance. _

_The doctor reached the hurt man about when his clip ran dry. Cursing again, he began to drag the man towards where he knew the chopper was. Never once did he think of letting the man go. _

_The thing, realizing that there were no more shots coming, began running after the doctor and his patient. The doctor, looking over his shoulder, saw the clearing where the chopper waited to whisk him away from this nightmare. He turned back to face the forest as the thing ran into the light. _

_It was obviously not of this world. One eyed with long arms, claws, and sharp teeth, the thing towered over the doctor. For a second the two just looked at each other. Doctor to monster. Healer to destroyer. Before either could do anything, a single shot rang out. One of the marines had come back, brandishing a high powered sniper rifle. _

_The only thing he said was, "Get away from them you BITCH!" _

_As the helicopter lifted into the sky, two fighter jets streaked in from the mountains, guns blazing. The doctor watched as the following explosions lit up the area in which he had just been, momentarily illuminating a rip that seemed to be hovering over the woods. Shaking his head and blinking, the doctor decided it must have been the heat from the bombs creating a optical anomaly of some sort. He quickly buried it in the depths of his mind, not wanting to remember it. Because for some reasons, it had made him unnaturally fearful._

_Back at the bunker hospital, the doctor was called yet again to the ER. When he got there he found the soldier he had saved the day earlier awake. _

_The Doctor smiled, but before he could say anything, the young soldier spoke up. "Why didn't you leave me?" was all he asked. The doctor raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Because." He said, "That wasn't the right thing to do. Maybe the most logical, but not the most human." Again, no one noticed the young girl watching from the hallway. _

Marceline sat on the skyscraper. Looking at the moon, which had now reached it's height and had begun to descend, was still extraordinarily bright. Yes, she thought again, most of humanity was not full of hate. Sure, the single bad man or woman was there, but most were good. That was why she had decided, and for her own mental and social well-being, needed to help humanity. For, after all, she was only human.

At the tree house, everyone assembled save for the flame princess who was still in the hospital and the Ice King whom no one could find. "Alright. We've got the card. We need to open the bunker." The two soldiers looked up at the floating girl, nodding in agreement. "Actually, we've already tried. We couldn't open it. There's something wrong with the card. We need someone to take a look at it, because we have absolutely no idea what to do with computers." The group looked at the speaker, who was of course the Lt. "What? I don't know everything…" he said in an attempt to lighten the mood that failed completely. So much so that JQ grimaced.

Princess Bubblegum thought for a second before she spoke up. "I think that I've learned enough by messing with the Osprey's on board computer that I can take a look at the card and fix it on BEMO." The little droid stood up, saying "Yes, BEMO will be helpful." Before sitting down again. The Lt nodded. "Ok, please do it. The sooner the better.

Changing the subject a little, I haven't yet looked at the Litch's plans. I thought it would be best if we all did that."

The group agreed, and began to read. Papers were passed around. When a relevant piece of information was found, it was added to a whiteboard. When the group was done reading all of the materials and diagrams, the boards was nearly full.

The group was silent for a moment before Marceline gasped. PB, Finn, the two soldiers, and Jake all understood a second after Marceline.

"Oh my god…." The Lt whispered. "The ancients had a base on the dark side of the moon. Full of spacecraft."

"Yeah," JQ added, "Spacecraft with godanm weapons."

YEEESSSSSS! Space, humans are coming back, and the Ice King is nowhere to be found…

This is going to get interesting. I'm not sure when I'll update this, but I'm thinking soon.

What is the general consensus on the where the story's going? please, Please, PLEASE review! It makes me continue!

-Dragonfeith

Peace, Love, Out.


	14. Into the Bunker

_Hello, my readers. Please enjoy yet another chapter!_

"Okay, wait a second. It's been a long time- maybe the base is gone, or- or maybe the ships don't work!" Princess Bubblegum said hopefully. Marceline shook her head. "PB, it's a vacuum up there. There's no elements or wind to break em' down. Let's just get the Bunker open and then we'll go from there."

"Okay, that should do it." Princess Bubblegum said, and took the card out from BMO's "butt." BMO giggled. The two soldiers gave each other a odd look before shaking their heads in annoyance.

Marceline grabbed the card and waited until everyone had followed her down to the bunker entrance. She took a deep (unnecessary) breath and asked, "Ready?" "Just put it in!" Finn said, tired of the waiting and confusion. He hadn't slept for a day, and was beginning to feel the effects. He was scared for FP, worried for the Ice King (though he wouldn't ever admit it), worried the card wouldn't work, and swamped with all this information about his race… he just wanted it over with. Jake was with Lady Rainicorn, using the excuse that he needed to bond with her. He was probably asleep.

Marceline nodded and slid the card into the door. The Lt. and JQ stepped up to the door and, in order of rank, scanned their hand into the door. Finally, they ushered Finn up and had his hand scanned. The door blinked green.

With an barely audible click, then a hiss of thousands of years old air escaping, the door slid up. Finn was surprised by how thick the door was.

He was about to remark on the fact when the lights began to turn on.

The group was standing in a massive room cut out of rock and lit by lights that were almost out of view. The room was filled with military and civilian vehicles of all kinds. The two soldiers looked around, almost as awestruck as the rest of the group.

There were, literally, all different types of machines. There were the cars that both Finn and Jake had seen burnt out all over Ooo, but these were different. They were stronger looking, and weren't burned out or overwhelmed by nature. There were also huge machines that looked like they were made to destroy things, but Finn knew from PB's stories were actually construction machines.

But what Finn was really looking at was the military vehicles.

There were tanks, helicopters, jets, humvee's, armored personnel carriers… and all were in what looked like perfect condition.

The first person to speak was the Lt. "These vehicles should all be ready to go if and when we need them. There's a elevator shaft for access to lower levels in a building in the center. That's where we need to go." Finn began to jog towards the center, but was stopped by the Lt. "Finn, we're going to take a car."

Finn stopped short, and turned, glee in his eyes. "Mathematical! I've always wanted to drive in one, but they're all destroyed." The Lt, JQ, Marceline, and PB smiled at his childlike excitement. Finn saw their smiles and blushed.

Ten minutes later, the group reached the center. A building, if one could call it that, sat in the middle of the room. It was more like a covering than a building. It was supported by four metal beams, one at each corner, that held up a roof. Finn briefly wondered why people needed a covering inside a room, but shrugged the thought off when JQ spoke.

"Everyone in the middle, please." When everyone was, he touched a control panel that Finn hadn't noticed before. "Going down." Was all JQ said as he pressed the button.

During a war that never actually happened (called the cold war by those involved), the first Nuclear bunkers were planned and created. Basically, they were large boxes built underground. As years went on, however, the boxes became much, much nicer and much, much bigger. Governments who had these really nice underground boxes connected them with more underground things, this time in the form of tubes with tracks in them.

When nuclear war finally started, the governments of the world took everybody they liked or needed and put them into a really long sleep in these underground boxes connected by tubes. The bunker that Finn and the rest were in was a nice bunker, built by the military. It was one that could and did hold 30,000 people. There were around thirty of these types of bunkers in the country of "America." Around the world, there were 70. So, 70 x 30,000 is 2,100,000. Though that's not a large amount in overall population, they were enough to carry on the human race.

Finn and the group were only going to wake the military, which numbered about 9,927 in the bunker he was in. The rest, the group had decided, would be awoken when there was no immediate danger in the world above.

"All right, floor 0. Built to hold the military grunts and commanders. Let's get em' awake." The group was on a ledge overlooking…something that Finn couldn't quite make out. JQ, Marceline and the Lt. started to walk towards a control console near the edge. When they got there, JQ pressed a button. The room lit up, and Finn gasped. They were overlooking thousands of the little pods that JQ and the LT. had been in. And Finn knew that in each one was a human. Just like him.

_Whew! We're already at 14 chapters! The story is coming to a close soon… but not as soon as one would think. Please, Review! I am starved for reviews. If there's no one out there, I delete the story. Thanks,_

_-Dragonfeith_

_Peace, Love, Out. _


	15. Ms President and Awakening

_A short and sweet chapter as I am conking out. Read and review! _

Awakening from cyro-stasis is never an easy thing. In fact, it's a very unpleasant process. First, one's body must be slowly warmed to a normal temperature. The chemicals keeping one's cells from bursting must be (again slowly) melted away. Then, nero-electric signals must be re-establishes through a difibulator. Finally, one's brain begins to awake to a very uncomfortable environment. Not to mention what a thousand years can do to one's neck.

So there wasn't a massive rush of people as Finn had expected. Instead, people slowly woke up over a process of an hour. During that time, the pods rotated and moved to different positions as walls rose out of the ground. In a half-hour, a maze of rooms and equipment was visible from the control booth.

All of the cyropods were lined up in a vertical position in the way back of the room. JQ and the Lt. awoke the medical personnel first, then the commanders, and finally the "grunts."

Finn, who had grown bored with this process, had snuck off to explore the rest of the bunker. After about fifteen minutes, he was hopelessly lost.

He wandered for a few minutes through the eerily empty hallways before he came to a door titled "Command." Thinking that that sounded important, he put his palm to the doorframe but was refused.

"It won't let ya in. You're not in the database." A voice from behind him sacred Finn out of his wits. Whirling, he was met with the face of a smiling, floating vampire.

"Geez, Marceline, don't do that!" he whispered. She laughed. "Why are you whispering?" she asked. He blushed and muttered something about ghosts. She laughed again. "Here, the computer should let me in." Marceline put her palm onto the scanner, which flashed green.

The two waited for a second as the florescent lights flickered on. The lights illuminated a large room. In the center was a square table with buttons on the side of it. All around the walls were consoles with titles like "Aerospace Defense", "Air Force Command", "Naval Command" and "Army Command." Marceline whistled in appreciation. "Whoa. This is where the US orchestrated the last days of the Mushroom War." She winked at Finn. "And probably where they'll orchestrate the re-building of humanity." Finn wasn't listening. He was looking at the square table. It had began to glow.

"Marceline, look!" He whispered. Marceline turned.

Above the table was the Earth. Around the Earth were satellites, space debris, and the trajectories of various objects.

Marceline, after doing a double take, understood it was a hologram. She was about to say something to Finn about it when two soldiers walked in from behind them "Ma'am! You're needed on floor 0." Marceline nodded. "As you were." She took out a radio and spoke into it. "On my way, JQ. What's up?"

JQ's voice came through the radio with a bit of static. "Um, Marceline, the President wants to talk to you." Marceline gulped. "Ok. I'm-uh- I'm on my way." She gestured for Finn to follow. The two soldiers fell in behind her.

The four continued down to floor 0 before turning into a meeting room. PB, JQ, and the Lt. were already there, along with tall women who had black hair. When Marceline entered, the women turned from her conversation with PB and stood. Smiling, the women offered her hand. "Hello, Marceline. I'm Julie Anderson, the current President of the United States."

Marceline accepted the handshake and sat down next to the President. "Um, ma'am, if you don't mind my asking, how are you president? Last I heard you were speaker for the house." Julie smiled sadly. "The president and vice president's aircraft were shot down over Arizona. They-they didn't make it." Marceline nodded. "Ok. Well, I'd expect you would like our situation?" Julie nodded. Yes, I would appreciate it. I've been told a little, and I already know about the Litch. But what I want to know," the woman continued, "is about these dimensional beings, any extra terrestrial races that seem to think the Earth is theirs, about magic, and I would really like to meet the so-called last human. Marceline smiled. "Well, most of those will take a while. But the last human is actually right outside." Marceline called for Finn, who peeked in and nervously walked in when Marceline gestured for him. "Ma'am, this is Finn the Human. And Finn," Marceline said, "this is Ms. Julie Anderson, President of the United States." Finn gave them a blank stare. Marceline sighed. "She's the one in charge." Finn's eyes got big. "Oh." Julie smiled. "I didn't think you'd be so young!" she exclaimed in surprise. Finn blushed. "That's fine, though. We have you to thank for us awakening." Here Julie looked Finn directly in the eye. "So, from one human to another, thank you."

It was too much for Finn. Julie, aliens, no sleep, FP's injuries, humanity's overwhelming technology…. He fainted and was out before he hit the floor.

_Thank you for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed! Please, PLEASE PLEASE! Read and review. It's all that keeps me going!_

_Peace, Love, Out._

_-Dragonfeith_


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